the_drowned_manfandomcom-20200213-history
Andrea
History Andrea is Wendy’s friend and confidante. She is a fellow aspiring actress at the studio and shares the same lowly status as Wendy. However she has a far more rational sensibility – she is believable and keeps a calm head during Wendy’s emotional outbursts. She supports Wendy as her mind unravels and acts as a relatable, grounded character for the audience to connect with. Also works as Conrad’s assistant for his magic act. Appearance Occasionally wears a sparkly pink dress, and sometimes wears a sequined red dress. Loop - Basic - Gets changed with Wendy (Dressing Room) - Acts and dances with Wendy (Snow Room) - Gets changed into blue dress (Dressing Room) - Dances on top of trailer (Caravan Park) - Prepares for Audition (Boardroom) - Auditions with William in front of Claude (Audition Room) - Meets up with Conrad to head to bar (Dressing Room) - Performs magic trick with Conrad (Studio 3) - Admonished by Conrad (Corridors) - Gets changed again (Dressing Room) - Locker dance (Studio 5) - Gets changed into red dress (Dressing Room) - Infidelity Ballet (Studio 5) - Changes with Wendy, invites her to party (Dressing Room) - Orgy (Masonic Temple) - Comforts Wendy (Dressing Room) - Snow dance (Small Snow Room) *Andrea performs a 1-1 in her first loop only. Potential spoiler, so click here to read. Loop - Extended She starts her loop getting changed with Wendy in the Main Dressing Room on the Ground Floor. They shoot a scene in Studio 4, the ‘Frozen Lake’ set, where they dance in the snow and Wendy is plagued by hellish, invisible phantoms. At the same time, William and Andy are cleaning the desk in the Boardroom upstairs. Andrea tries to pull Wendy back to her senses, so they can finish the scene for Mr Stanford. She finally calms her down and they’re congratulated on a successful shoot. They walk off laughing, arm in arm. Andrea gets changed into a blue dress in the Main Dressing Room and walks to Studio 2, the Woodchip Trailer Park. Nearby in the Mess Tent, Dolores is celebrating her birthday with Wendy and the others. Andrea hangs around in the clearing next to the trailers. She lights up a cigarette and begins to dance, still smoking. She moves languidly and sensuously and climbs on top of one of the trailers. She seems at peace while the unpleasant scenes are unfolding at the party nearby. She leaps athletically from one trailer to the next, before sliding down between them to the ground. She steps up onto a sofa. An audience member is sitting at one end and she smiles as she steps towards him, slowly placing one bare foot in front of the other. She hears her name being called from the trees in the distance. She walks through the glade and sees that it’s Alice Estee. Alice points her forward, saying, ‘Go on, they’re waiting for you, you’ll be great!’ Andrea runs upstairs to the studio. She meets Claude Estee who escorts her to the Audition Suite. He sits in a low leather armchair, coolly observing her as she steps onto the stage. The disembodied voice of Mr Stanford gives directions. Claude gets up and tries to take advantage of her, but she resists. William is cleaning the room and is told to join the performance. They act out a short scene about a woman discovering her lover’s infidelity and Andrea is encouraged to slap him. Shaken by Claude’s bullying, and her part in William’s humiliation, she heads for the Main Dressing Room. She changes into a red sparkling dress and meets up with another actor, Conrad. He says ‘You look gorgeous’ and they head for Studio 3. When Andrea and Conrad enter the room, an executive introduces the two actors and they perform a magic trick on a small side stage. Andrea climbs into a box and Conrad pushes a series of sharpened wooden sticks through the cardboard. As he punctures the box, the band accompanies his thrusts with bursts of music. He pauses for effect as he prepares to plunge a couple of poles through the top. He slides them back and forth in time to the music before driving them home with a wicked grin. He removes them one by one and Andrea pops out as the audience applaud. As an added bonus, she managed to remove her dress while she was in the box. They bow and leave, and the band launch into a slurred version of ‘Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing’. Outside in the corridor, Conrad isn’t happy and curses Andrea for going off-script. She returns to the Main Dressing Room and changes for her next shoot. On her dressing table is a letter she’s written to Wendy. In it, she reassures her friend that her suspicions about Marshall can’t possibly be true because he simply adores her. She says that if Wendy is worried, she should make an appointment with The Doctor. Andrea is thinking of getting some ‘Petite Plan’, because all the other girls are on it, and she’ll need it if she’s going to play a sixteen-year-old. Andrea walks to Studio 5 where she’s playing the lead female in ‘Leader of the Pack’, noted as ‘Betty Weiss’ on a call sheet backstage. Betty Weiss was one of the singers in the Shangri La’s. She’s joined by Faye and Drugstore Girl on a set dressed as a teenager’s bedroom. The three of them wear leather jackets like the girls in ‘Grease’, and lie next to each other on a large bed. On the shelves above them, every doll and stuffed animal has been blinded, eyes closed with tape or sewn shut. They sing along to ‘Bull Dog’ like Bobby Soxers, before the boys join in. Andrea dances seductively with Dwayne and they all end the shoot in a high school locker room. Dwayne is wearing just a towel and Andrea pulls it away with a cheeky grin. The actors disperse and she walks to the Main Dressing Room, where she puts her red sequined dress back on. Characters getting in and out of costume is a recurring theme throughout ‘The Drowned Man’. It reinforces the notion that the performers are playing a ‘role’, and that constantly jumping between fiction and reality can have an unsettling affect on their psyche. It also makes for some highly charged scenes, as the actors perform the normally private act of undressing in cramped spaces surrounded by onlookers. Dressed like a younger version of Dolores, Andrea walks back to Studio 5. She’s joined by Wendy and Frankie, and the three of them perform the ‘Infidelity Ballet’, directed by Mr Stanford. Andrea plays a dancer in a strip bar who performs for Frankie when he should be at home with his wife. Wendy, playing the wife, is distracted and on edge. While Andrea is waiting for her scene to start, The Doctor approaches and points at his watch. It’s time for her to take her pill and he pushes one into her mouth. The Seamstress gently strokes her arm and Andrea is momentarily stunned. The Doctor walks off and Andrea spits the pill into her hand. Towards the end of the shoot, Wendy breaks down and lashes out with a pair of scissors. She runs away and derails the scene. Andrea is approached by Claude who gives her a couple of invites for Mr Stanford’s staff party. She squeals with delight and skips off. She heads back to the Main Dressing Room, where she tries to comfort her friend. They both get ready for Mr Stanford’s party, and Andrea leaves early while Wendy continues to prepare. Andrea enters the Masonic Temple Hall in the Basement and joins in the debauchery. Drugged up, the studio employees take part in a curious line dance. They spin and twirl with slow exaggerated precision, jutting their heads forward in unison. The steps includes a series of languid moves and finger-clicking that may have been influenced by a scene from the 1964 film ‘Bande à part’ (Band of Outsiders) by Jean-Luc Godard. In the film, three characters, Arthur, Franz and Odile, are in a crowded café and they perform a dance routine to a soul tune by Michel Legrand. The dance became known as the ‘Madison’ dance and also influenced the scene with John Travolta and Uma Thurman in ‘Pulp Fiction’. Some of the dancing is also reminiscent of the ‘Rich Man's Frug’, a dance number performed in the film ‘Sweet Charity’ from 1969, choreographed by Bob Fosse (1927–1987), an American actor and dancer. After the lurid dancing, the party descends into a throng of flailing limbs. Wendy walks in and catches Dolores with her husband. She breaks down and Andrea tries to calm her. She takes her back to the Main Dressing Room, holding her tenderly, but Wendy can’t be consoled and she staggers off. Andrea undresses and puts on a delicate dressing gown. She enters a small room next to Studio 4, covered in fake snow. The snow drifts through an opening and up a steep hill beyond the doorframe. She’s fragile and trembling as she dances up and down the snow. She climbs up the walls and tumbles down the slope as ‘Avarice’ by Hanz Zimmer plays in the background. Afraid and desperate, she finally tumbles through the opening and collapses in front of the audience. She lies prone and exposed on the ground, semi-naked. A shadowy figure emerges from the other side of the doorway. Andrea watches nervously as the shadow grows bigger and the figure gets closer. Suddenly, the sinister outline of Claude Estee appears at the opening and Andrea passes out. His stance softens and he leans down and embraces her gently. He lifts her lifeless body and takes her into the Main Dressing Room, where he sits her down and passionately kisses her. Final Show Trivia According to her personal correspondence, she is judged harshly by her family and even fans for playing "bad girls" and for dating her co-stars. According to the list of deaths kept on file in the PA's office, she passes away in 2002. Quotes References Category:Characters